Gascoigne poses for a pic on a night out during the pre-tournament training camp in Hong Kong. Credit: PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images
ENGLAND ARE HOSTING their first major tournament since winning the World Cup 30 years previous in what they have billed ‘football coming home’.
Having not played a competitive game in two years, boss Terry Venables makes the ill-advised decision to bring his much-hyped squad to the Far East as a warm-up.
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The move was questioned at the time and for good reason. While wins are recorded against minnows China and a Hong Kong Select XI, the final day coincides with Paul Gascoigne’s birthday and results in alcohol-fueled mayhem.
Their plane home is damaged while the players knock back bottles of champagne during the 13-hour long party and when they do eventually touch down in London, photographs of the birthday boy guzzling spirits while laid back in a ‘dentist’s chair’, a contraption you are most likely to find in an 18-30s holiday resort, are plastered all over the tabloids’ front pages.
Despite calls for his expulsion from the squad, Gazza keeps his place and after being held to an uninspiring 1-1 draw with Switzerland in their Group A opener, England are in grave danger of failing spectacularly on home soil.
At Wembley, they lead Scotland 1-0 thanks to an Alan Shearer header and Gary McAllister has just had a penalty saved by David Seaman.
With the fixture still on a knife edge, the troubled genius majestically flicks Darren Anderton’s pass over the head of Colin Hendry and volleys beyond Andy Goram before re-enacting his off-field antics with the help of Teddy Sheringham and a nearby water bottle.
37 days to Euro 2012: Gazza's back in the dentist's chair
ENGLAND ARE HOSTING their first major tournament since winning the World Cup 30 years previous in what they have billed ‘football coming home’.
Having not played a competitive game in two years, boss Terry Venables makes the ill-advised decision to bring his much-hyped squad to the Far East as a warm-up.
The move was questioned at the time and for good reason. While wins are recorded against minnows China and a Hong Kong Select XI, the final day coincides with Paul Gascoigne’s birthday and results in alcohol-fueled mayhem.
Their plane home is damaged while the players knock back bottles of champagne during the 13-hour long party and when they do eventually touch down in London, photographs of the birthday boy guzzling spirits while laid back in a ‘dentist’s chair’, a contraption you are most likely to find in an 18-30s holiday resort, are plastered all over the tabloids’ front pages.
Despite calls for his expulsion from the squad, Gazza keeps his place and after being held to an uninspiring 1-1 draw with Switzerland in their Group A opener, England are in grave danger of failing spectacularly on home soil.
At Wembley, they lead Scotland 1-0 thanks to an Alan Shearer header and Gary McAllister has just had a penalty saved by David Seaman.
With the fixture still on a knife edge, the troubled genius majestically flicks Darren Anderton’s pass over the head of Colin Hendry and volleys beyond Andy Goram before re-enacting his off-field antics with the help of Teddy Sheringham and a nearby water bottle.
YouTube credit: gukbap
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